The movable flood control barrier (otherwise known as a floating rotating barrier, floating barge floodgate or swing gate) is employed to prevent water from flooding canals, waterways, and the like during storms or high water events. These include, but are not limited to, hurricanes, tropical storms, tropical depressions, cyclones, seasonal flooding, storm surge, coastal flooding, littoral flooding, backwater flooding, rogue waves, tsunamis, long term rain events, or short term high intensity rain events. Additionally, the possibility that sea levels may rise due to climate change may make the aforementioned events occur at a greater frequency or increase the desirability of deployment where feasible. In the event that a flooding event is predicted, the movable flood control barrier may be employed to help mitigate the effects of such an event. Hereafter, for simplicity, the movable flood control barrier will be referred to as the barge. Prior to the flooding event, the barge is stored on one side of a waterway. Initially, the barge is in a sunk position proximal the shoreline of the waterway or the like, to prevent unwanted motion when not in use in its flood prevention role. It has been considered that the barge may be partially sunk, which would also attenuate motion, but does not have to be.
A major advantage of the movable flood control barrier is that it is re-usable, easy to maintain, has a long lifetime, and does not impede traffic on the waterway when not being employed in its flood prevention role.
Once it is determined to deploy the barge from its initial position, the centrifugal pump is actuated by the engine, causing the on-board containers to empty of water and thus the barge begins to float. Once the barge has left the bottom of the waterway, a winch or the like is actuated, causing the barge to rotate about a vertical axis. This causes the barge to begin to move towards one or more abutments on either side of the waterway. The action of the flowing water in the waterway creates a force against the side of the hull which both assist in the movement of the barge move into its final position against the abutments and continues to push the barge flush against the abutments provided on both sides of the waterway. The winch is caused to function by a hydraulic pump powered by the engine.
It takes a finite time for the winch to place the barge into position, depending on how much water has been pumped out of the container within the barge, the speed of the winch, the size of the barge, the width of the waterway and the momentum of the water flowing down the waterway as well as other factors. In this fashion the engine is engaging the pumping system to withdraw water from the interior container of the barge and the engine is engaging the hydraulically powered winch system simultaneously. These two functions; however, may be performed one at a time, by disconnecting the engine from either system by disengaging either clutch, the electromagnetic clutch for the hydraulic system, and the power take off clutch for the water pumping system.
As the barge rotates toward its final position, the internal compartments are being filled with water from the waterway by the centrifugal pump. Once the barge has been moved to its second position the centrifugal pumping finishes re-filling the internal compartments of the barge. This water weight increases the density of the barge to a sufficient amount to permit the barge to sink to the bottom of the waterway. This causes the flow of water in the waterway to be slowed or preferably halted. This would have the effect of protecting the area upstream of the barge from flooding. The same engine causes both the rotation of the barge into position as well as the pumping of the water in and out of the internal compartments located in the barge.
Once the threat of flooding has ended, the barge is re-floated and returned to its original position and then re-sunk for its next use. This is performed by the engine powering the pumping system, removing the water out of the internal compartments of the barge, thus allowing the barge to float. After the barge has been returned to its floating state, the engine then powers the winch, which returns the barge to the original position on the side of a waterway. The barge is then sunk again, by once again filling the interior compartments with water.
Alternate means may be employed to move the barge in and out of position. A marine screw propeller system may be utilized. Also, a combination of the winch and a marine screw propeller system could be employed. It is to be understood that many arrangements of winches pulling wires, or deploying wires, in any of a variety of geometrical arrangements may move the barge from its initial to its final position.
Although a diesel engine is employed in certain embodiments of the invention, other types of engines may be utilized. These engines may include, but are not limited to, a diesel engine, a gasoline engine, hybrid engines, internal combustion engines, an engine which runs on liquid petroleum gas or propane. Additionally, an electrical motor or generator may be used, powered by a bank of batteries or other electrical system. A solar charging system may be utilized to keep the batteries charged; however, due to the possible lack of sunlight at the time when use of the barge is contemplated, a backup electrical generating system may be desirable. Additionally there may be equivalent forms of winching systems, pumping systems, pumps, power transmission devices and the like which may be employed in such a barge acting as a movable flood control barrier.
The pumping system to flood the interior compartments to sink the barge includes, but is not limited to, a centrifugal pump. The winch for moving the barge into position may include, but is not limited to, a hydraulic pump to power the rotation of the winch. The interior compartments inside the barge which is flooded with water and de-watered by the action of the centrifugal pump may have an anti-corrosive coating provided on the interior walls, to prevent corrosion due to the water. The water pumped in and out of the internal compartments may be salt water, brackish water, non-salt water or the like, but also may include other liquid materials such as oils, fuels, chemicals and the like, which would be integrated into the water by the action of the flooding. Such a mixture of fluids could easily limit the lifespan of an unprotected surface. The interior sidewalls of the water pump employed may also include such an anti-corrosive coating. The valves and pipes to and from the water pump, the interior of the containers, and to and from the waterway or channel may be similarly coated.